Chapter 5

“What are you doing? This is the women’s restroom!” Without thinking twice, Carrie turned and grabbed him by the arm.

Her fingers had barely grazed his skin when he swallowed, his hazel eyes darkening as a slow heat spread across his chest.

Unaware of what was happening, a frown settled on her face when he didn’t budge and she glared up at him in annoyance.

“Whoever you are, you can’t just be in here simply because you’re the son of an alpha!”

Sucking in a deep breath, Dean took in the sweet scent emanating from her, his Adam’s apple bobbing slowly as he inhaled it.

For the past two weeks, all he could think about was seeing her face, and the thought of meeting her again had pushed him to work twice as hard.

Thankfully, he caught her scent as soon as he stepped into the pack and tracked her here.

It had only been two weeks but she already looked different…

“Have you suddenly lost the ability to speak?”

He snapped out of his reverie upon hearing her angry voice and lowered his eyes to her seething eyes.

“My eyes…” His brows instantly perked up, a small smile easing into his features as he stepped toward her. “Don’t you think they’re beautiful?”

Carrie’s frown only deepened, her brows furrowing apprehensively as she backed away, but she only two steps before slamming against the sink.

“You need to leave,” she said seriously.

Dean shrugged and inched closer.

As he did, she turned to the side and recoiled in confusion, shrinking herself until he was towering directly over her.

“Y-you… you’re not listening to a word I’m saying!”

Slamming both palms against the sink, he leaned down until their eyes were level.

Moving his face closer to hers, he chuckled seeing the confusion in her gaze. “If you want me to leave so badly, why don’t you make me?”

Carrie blinked several times in disbelief, her confusion deepening.

What was this?

This wasn’t anything like the man she married in her past life.

Back then, he wouldn’t even spend more than a second alone with her, let alone maintain eye contact for this long.

And what was with this stifling closeness?

Really displeasing for a man with such bad luck hovering around him.

With a closeness like this, it would only be a matter of time before whatever bad luck he carried rubbed off on her.

The gory image of the rod that had pierced through her chest—killing her—flashed through her mind almost immediately, and she shivered.

Ignoring the goosebumps spreading across her body, she bent down and slipped out from underneath him.

As soon as she did, she mentally gave herself a gentle pat on the head.

She hadn’t lost much weight in the last two weeks, but she felt considerably smaller and flexible, able to move out from under him with such ease.

If she could make this much progress in just two weeks, she should be able to lose all the unnecessary weight in a few months.

“Let’s stop meeting each other. It’s really inconveniencing,” she exhaled without turning back, then quickly walked away.

The other girls must have noticed she was missing by now.

That darn man. She was supposed to slip into the restroom quietly and return without anyone noticing she was gone, but he just had to appear and stall her.

Seeing her walk back to her seat, some of the girls scrunched up their nose.

“You’re back?”

“Here we thought you were self-aware enough to hide yourself instead of being an eyesore to everyone.”

“How can you even live with yourself?”

Carrie heard them but didn’t stop walking.

She had borne their mockery all her life. Listening to it now when she was actually making an effort to change didn’t move her at all.

Realizing she was ignoring them, the girls grew annoyed.

“Tch! Ignore us all you want, but it doesn’t change the obvious fact that you’re so big.”

“Why else do you think she’s never had a man in her life besides her father?”

“Honestly, no man wishes to be crushed under all that weight for a brief moment of pleasure. Hahaha.”

As they laughed, Dean stepped out of the restroom and heard them.

He wasn’t one to be amongst gossiping women or men, so his first thought was to walk toward Carrie.

However, his wolf’s eager giggle made his brows wrinkle slightly in thought.

“Well, would you look at that?! A better opportunity to change how she views you couldn’t have come at a finer time.”

“You need to use this opportunity wisely. Defend her so she knows you’re not one of the spineless men surrounding her!”

He paused, his eyes darting toward Carrie who sat at the other end of the room, her eyes turned away from the group.

So he made up his mind and scoffed, “You’re all skin and bones. You have no right to talk down on someone else.”

The skinniest of the group felt particularly attacked and turned toward the direction of the voice.

Dean had gone ahead of everyone, so he was here without any of his pack members.

He was also yet to change out of the hunting clothes he’d worn, making him resemble one of the pack hunters.

In every pack, despite being the ones who brought in game to sell to others, hunters ranked lower than every other job.

So having a hunter ‘body shame’ her was really infuriating.

Jessica Muse also turned to look at him.

At the mere sight of such a manly man, her breath turned raspy.

Wearing a short-hand shirt, his bulging muscles were exposed for every eye to feast on.

Despite only showing his side to them, his wide back also stood out sharply. He was built like a rock. The kind of man who made every woman feel safe.

Such a manly man.

Too bad he was just a lowly hunter, so she quickly retracted her eyes.

The other girls also finished checking him out at this moment and clicked their tongue wistfully.

“Eh? This must be your boyfriend, Carrie.”

“I must commend you for knowing better and going for someone fitting.”

“He must be a wretched hunter if he’s so willing to be with someone like her.”

“Haha! It’s not every time you get a chance to marry into the infamous Pietro family.”

“Don’t be shy, tell us—how much did Kurt Pietro pay you to be with his daughter?”

“It must be a lot if he’s willing to be pressed down under all that weight.”

The last statement was made by the same girl Dean had referred to as skin and bones, and for a moment, the man was amazed at how hateful she sounded.

Sitting a table away, Carrie mentally facepalmed.

Naturally, she wanted to correct them and quickly explain that this man was the very reason they had all dolled up to come here. But they would only think she was trying to save her own skin and mock her even more.

But aside from that—what was he even doing here without his people?

Had he come with them, she had no doubt they would’ve identified him instantly.

Sigh.

This stupid misunderstanding would only make the bad luck hovering around her stick longer than it should.

No. She couldn’t just sit still and do nothing.

If she spoke up now, she could still salvage the situation.

Unfortunately, the moment she parted her lips to say something, Jessica Muse turned to one of the girls.

“We have no idea when Dean Meadows will make an appearance, but until he shows up, we can’t risk having him see a dirty hunter lurking around in one of our best clubs. Go outside and inform one of the staff to come kick him out!”

Carrie immediately pressed her lips into a thin line, swallowing back her words.

Nope. This situation had successfully gotten out of control. There was nothing she could do anymore.

Knowing Dean, he would never let a disrespect like this slide.

Rest in peace, Jessica, and may the moon goddess hopefully guide you to light…

She had just closed her eyes to say a quick prayer for Jessica when she felt a big, warm palm suddenly close around her wrist.

She peeled her eyes open and was welcomed with the sight of his fingers dipping into the spaces between hers.

Glancing up, she was slightly taken aback to see Dean pouting childishly. “Carrie, I’m so scared. These friend of yours… they’re all so scary.”